History of Diagonal Printing Museum Building
JESSUP, WAFFLE, TURNBULL, TERRY, BEADLE, SHRIMPTON, CARR, PERRY, HENSLEY, FORBES
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 6/29/2010 at 05:06:04
BRIEF HISTORY of the DIAGONAL PRINTING MUSEUM BUILDING
The building was built in 1909 by Dr. A. E. JESSUP . The lot was sold to Mrs. JESSUP for $1,800 in May 1909. Dr. JESSUP and family made their home in the upstairs, and he used the large room downstairs for a drug store. The room in the southwest corner was used for his office. The building was used by Doctor JESSUP until 1919. He moved to another building up the street. The building was occupied by several businesses until 1924. Thomas S. WAFFLE moved the Diagonal Reporter into the building in 1924.
Harold TURNBULL started working for Mr. WAFFLE in 1922. Harold worked for Mr. WAFFLE until 1934, when Mr. WAFFLE died. Harold continued running the paper for the estate until 1937, when he purchased the business, and in 1939, he purchased the building for taxes.
The building was renovated, and Harold, Mildred and Miles moved in 1940. The TURNBULLS would live here until 1982, when they moved to Washington State to be near Miles and his family.
The Reporter was sold in 1972 to Helen TERRY of Mount Ayr. She published the paper until May 31, 1979.
The mechanical equipment reains in place in the building complex of the old method of composition and printing known as "hot-type."
Harold received his "fifty year" award from Iowa Press Association in 1972.
In December 1983, the Diagonal Community set their goal to raise money to purchase the Reporter Office, and open a museum. Over $7,200 was raised within a year. The museum opened on Memorial Day Week-end of 1984.
Thank you for visiting the Diagonal Printing Museum and Genealogy Collection Center.
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HISTORY OF THE HOME of The DIAGONAL REPORTER
by Mildred Turnbull, 1984The town of Diagonal was platted on March 30, 1889, a part of the E1/2 NE1/2 Section 6, Twp. 69, Ringgold 30, and recorded April 3, 1889, Book I, Page 62 in the courthouse of Ringgold County, Mount Ayr, Iowa.
Site of the building is Lot I, Block 14 of the original polt, a business lot with a 25-foot frontage extending west to the alley.
Prior to platting the abstract for this property lists various owners, and after platting the following: Hettie PERRY, Minerva HENSLEY, Mary FORBES, A. R. SHRIMPTON, Carrie CARR, and B. F. BEADLE who sold the lot to Mrs. A. E. JESSUP for the sum of $180.00 (sic) in May 1909.
Mrs. JESSUP and her husband, Dr. A. E. JESSUP, then of Sharpsburg, Iowa, mortgaged a farm located near Redding, Iowa for $5,000.00 in order to build the structure which stands on the site. (The mortgage was retired in five years.)
The building, standing as erected, is two full stories built with 2x6 framing, high ceilings on both floors, numerous windows, and "insulated" with two layers of what was then called building paper.
The lower floor consists of one large room, designed for the use as a drug store, and sunny southwest room for the doctor's office, storage space, and a stairway leading to the the large upstairs apartment where the JESSUP family made their home. Dr. and Mrs. JESSUP, two daughters, Vera and Ruth, and a son, Byron, moved in, in time for the JESSUP twins, Dale and Dorothy, to be born there October 9, 1909.
Family members recall a store showcase displaying cigars and tobacco for sale, a practice discontinued when the doctor decided not to sell anything which he himself would not use.
In the doctor's office a barber chair served the patients, and there was an early "X-Ray" machine, made up of a series of glass wheels and brushes. The machine did not produce pictures, and required someone to turn the mechanism, usually a form of "son" power.
In the dark recess of an under stairway closet there hung a human skeleton, long remembered by those frightened at the sight.
Dr. JESSUP, his family, and the store occupied the building for ten years, then moving to another location on Main Street.
For an interim of five years various small businesses occupied the ground floor, and various families lived in the apartment.
In 1924, Thomas S. WAFFLE, owner, editor and publisher of the Diagonal Reporter, purchased the building, moved his business there, and with his wife, Maude, lived in the apartment.
Harold TURNBULL, sole Reporter employee, moved with the business, having apprenticed in April, 1922, age 16, and just prior to his graduation from Diagonal High School.
The Reporter, which had risen from the ashes of the Diagonal Progress, was hand-set until later in the twenties when a Mergenthaler Linotype was installed, replacing and removing the drudgery of letter-by-letter composition and distribution.
This employer-employee relationship continued until Mr. WAFFLE'S death in 1934, with TURNBULL taking charge of the business for three years for the estate.
After 15 years of employment, Mr. TURNBULL purchased the weekly in 1937, and two years later also purchased the building when it went on the auction block for delinquent taxes. Purchase price $105.
The TURNBULLS renovated the building with Harold, wife Mildred, and their son, Miles, moving there in 1940, continuing residence for 42 years.
The Reporter was sold in 1972 when the owner retired after fifty years with and as The Diagonal Reporter. The mechanical equipment remains in place in the building, a working complex of the old method of compositition and printing known as "hot-type."
The building stands, four-square and sturdy, following 75 years of usefulness, a community landmark providing a decade of shelter for a doctor and his family, and for 60 years known as the Reporter Office.
It has been said that the heartbeat of a community went in and out that door.
It has withstood the passage of time, hard use, neglect, lightning strike and tornadic winds, as well as the loving care of its owners. In spite of this and because of this, it stands.
Submissions and photograph by Mike Avitt, June of 2010
Ringgold Documents maintained by Tony Mercer.
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